UConn Huskies football faces a critical moment after a tough loss to Maryland. Can they bounce back against Merrimack? On this episode of Locked on Uconn Mark Zanetto and guest hosts Pete Cain and Bobby Wilson dissect UConn's struggles with tackling, discipline, and offensive execution, while debating the quarterback situation between Nick Evers and Joe Fagnano. They also critique the conservative playcalling and discuss the impact of NIL on player accountability. Key players like Skyler Bell are highlighted as potential game-changers.
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UConn Huskies football faces a critical moment after a tough loss to Maryland. Can they bounce back against Merrimack?
The hosts dissect UConn's struggles with tackling, discipline, and offensive execution, while debating the quarterback situation between Nick Evers and Joe Fagnano. They also critique the conservative playcalling and discuss the impact of NIL on player accountability. Key players like Skyler Bell are highlighted as potential game-changers.
Tune in for expert analysis and score predictions for the Merrimack game. Don't miss out on this deep dive into UConn Huskies football!
0:00 Intro
2:19 Discipline Issues in UConn Football
5:38 Motivational Speech for UConn Players
7:35 Coach Moore's Press Conference Insights
8:55 Personal Coaching Experience
14:02 Nick Everest's Struggles and Play Calling Issues
18:07 Offensive Strategy Adjustments
21:14 Concerns About the 3-3-5 Defense
25:27 UConn's Performance Analysis
UConn Football: Bouncing Back from Maryland and Preparing for Merrimack
Introduction
Welcome to Locked on UConn, your daily podcast dedicated to the UConn Huskies. We appreciate your continued support, especially from our everyday listeners. Remember, you can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the app, create an account, and use the code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.
Announcements
We are thrilled to announce that Locked on UConn is now donating 10% of our podcast revenue to Bleeding Blue for Good NIL. By supporting this show, you are directly contributing to the UConn athletic department and helping our athletes thrive. You can help by subscribing to our YouTube channel and following us on your preferred podcast platform.
Football Friday: Analyzing the Maryland Game
Last week’s performance against Maryland was tough to watch. UConn needs to wash off the stench of that game and move forward. We brought in Pete and Bobby from the TNT College Football Podcast to discuss what went wrong and how to improve.
Pete’s Take
Pete emphasized the importance of reviewing the game film meticulously. The team needs to analyze every detail to understand what went wrong and how to correct it. He mentioned that Coach Mora’s analysis was spot on, particularly regarding tackling and the differences between scout team performance and actual game situations.
Bobby’s Perspective
Bobby agreed with Pete, stressing the need for accountability and improvement. He shared his own coaching experience, highlighting the importance of addressing mistakes head-on and making necessary adjustments.
Looking Ahead: Merrimack Game
As UConn prepares to face Merrimack, the focus should be on both offensive and defensive improvements. The team needs to dominate from the start and not let Merrimack gain any confidence.
Offensive Strategy
Pete suggested that UConn should leverage its wide receivers more effectively. Skyler Bell and TJ Sheffield have shown they can make plays, and the team needs to get the ball in their hands more often. The offensive line should also create bigger holes for the running game.
Defensive Focus
Bobby pointed out that the linebacker unit needs to step up. The tackling was poor against Maryland, and this needs to be corrected. Players like Tui Fumina Brown need to lead by example and improve their performance.
Predictions and Expectations
Both Pete and Bobby believe that UConn should win against Merrimack, but the margin of victory will be telling. Pete predicted a 26-16 win, emphasizing the need for the offense to show more explosiveness. Bobby predicted a 28-10 win, expecting the team to take care of business but acknowledging that there might be some early struggles.
Conclusion
Thank you for tuning in to Locked on UConn. For your second listen, check out the Locked on College Football Podcast for the latest on NIL deals and conference realignment rumors. This has been another episode of Locked on UConn Football Friday. Stay locked in, stay connected, and as always, go Huskies! #UConnFootball #Huskies #CollegeFootball #FootballFriday #UConnHuskies #bleedblue #NIL #GameDay #UConnVsMerrimack #GoHuskies #FootballAnalysis #UConnAthletics #Podcast
Speaker A [0:01 - 2:18]: It's a football Friday. What does UConn have to do to wash themselves of the stench of that performance at Maryland? You're locked on UConn. You are locked on UConn. Your daily podcast on the UConn Huskies, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Welcome to lockdown, UConn. Thanks for making. For making us your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to check us out on YouTube, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Before we dive into today's show, I want to start with a couple announcements. First, a huge thank you to everyone for your continued support, especially my everyday ers. It truly means the world to me. I'm excited to share that. Lockdown UConn is now officially donating 10% of our podcast revenue to bleeding blue for good nil. So when you support this show, you're directly supporting the UConn athletic department and helping our athletes thrive. With that said, how can one help? My 1 may ask right by subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Looking at some of the advertisements adding, adding more revenue to the podcast only goes to 10% of that goes to bleeding blue for good. In the nil collective, every bit of support counts, and we truly appreciate you helping grow the locked on UConn community. Today's episode is brought to you by game time. Download the game time app, create an account, and use the code locked on college for dollar 20 off your first purchase. Well, as we do on football Fridays, we bring in the boys from the TNT College football podcast. Let's get Pete and Bobby in here right now. Let's unmute their mics and bring them on the floor. Bobby, Pete, what does. What does UConn have to do to kind of get themselves out of that performance from Maryland? Do you, do you sit there and like, I'll go to Pete first. You've been. And, Bobby, I know you've coached before, but as specific to a player, do you watch this film? Do you. Do you correct it? Like, what's the old adage? Like, do you just, like, kind of flush it? Or like, I don't know what your philosophy is, but it was tough to watch.
Speaker B [2:19 - 2:19]: Hell, yeah.
Speaker C [2:19 - 4:05]: You watch it because obviously you didn't perform to the standard you expected. The coaches expected, the fans expected. That wasn't, that wasn't the debut you wanted as a player, certainly not as a coach. And so, yeah, you have to take your medicine a little bit and go over every little nuanced detail with a fine tooth comb to see what you did right. If anything, what you could have done better and have to move forward because you have, what, eleven more of these opportunities to have to play through and you got nothing to do but go up. So, yeah, you definitely look at this film, and I pretty much am confident they've seen what everybody else saw on tv. So, yeah, now, granted, I watched Coach Moore's presser, I think, earlier today, and I don't think he was wrong in any of his analysis in terms of tackling, in terms of, um, the differences between the scout team and what you see during the game, particularly with this kind of opponent. My instinct told me, even though I was full of hopium last week, based off of what I saw, their last game against Auburn, that last ballgame, I had a feeling, I had a sneaky feeling this could be one of the results, because that, that team was damn good at the end of the season last year and Washington damn good the other day. So, yeah, you have to take your medicine, lick your wounds and move forward.
Speaker A [4:06 - 5:11]: Bobby, there was a lot of good college football last week. This game was not one of them. But each one of these games has reactions from coaches. And we saw Jim Morris. Pete alluded to it. I said on Monday, on the Monday reaction show that I wasn't particularly enamored with. Not his analysis, because Pete's right. He was able to analyze because he's. I mean, listen, Jim, Jim Moore is a great football coach. I'm not questioning his coaching ability, but what I will question is, or ask this question, you saw Brian Kelly, who I'm not a big fan of, by the way, just like hammer the table down and is pissed off about his team's performance. Basically throw his team under the bus. Right? Which do you prefer? Do you prefer that fire and brimstone. We need to get better and kind of that outward facing, or do you prefer the Jim Mora kind of sunshines and rainbows approach? And that's being a little snarky, but you understand. You understand the question.
Speaker B [5:12 - 6:43]: Yeah, I get what you're saying. I mean, there's, there's a time and place for both, of course, the coach, but in this particular situation, I mean, I'm firmly. You need to stand on your soapbox, let's call it, and you need to be slam pounding that table and saying, guys, we got to get this crap together. Because, I mean, honestly, what we saw is obviously none of the guys expected that to happen. They didn't want that to happen. Obviously, we know that, but what happened, happened. So now we got to go back to the drawing board. Like Pete is saying, we got to watch the film. We got to get better. You got to watch every single second of that film and get better. And I've been there as a coach, I'll talk. Just side note, my very first game as a college coach, I was 23 years old. As a head coach, we lost in this type of fashion against the number one team in the country. The very next game, we came back and we won handily. Because I looked at my players, I said, guys or girls? Because I coached women's basketball. This, this and this has to change. And they went and changed that, albeit against an opponent who wasn't as good as the number one team in the country. But at the same time, they took the same way that I firmly believe that our guys are going to do this because I think we have a good coaching staff. Who's going to get on them? Who's going to hold them accountable to this? And I think you're going to see us respond in a better way this coming week. We almost have to.
Speaker A [6:44 - 6:56]: Right. Um, this is to both you. Pete, you go first on this. What do you do if you're Jim Mora? Just from an operation standpoint, to forget about the.
Speaker B [6:56 - 6:56]: We.
Speaker A [6:56 - 7:39]: We've watched the film. You guys both have talked about it. We were analyzing it all. We have a game plan. What do you like, what are you specifically telling your players in practice? Are you challenging them? Are you, like, literally, this isn't the. I grew up in the nineties, eighties. Nineties. So I don't think anyone's going to be challenging anyone's manhood. Like, you know, that's not a thing anymore. But are like, what are we doing to kind of, like, challenge these kids to not give up? The biggest stat that I saw was that Maryland had 237 yards of yak yards after catch. Most of those throws were four and six yard digs or screens that went for 75, 48 yards. Big chunks. So what is it desire? Is it, is it technique?
Speaker C [7:39 - 7:39]: Is it a bit of.
Speaker A [7:39 - 7:43]: A little bit of both? I'm curious, like, what do you guys think?
Speaker C [7:44 - 9:16]: It's all the above. And a very famous coach in Pittsburgh once said, the standard is the standard. You can work all you want in the offseason in the weight room with preseason practices, but results are what count. You didn't get them down. You're going to have, and I think they had a very clear wake up call for this defense of what it does. You're going to be in a lot of one on one situations in the three, three five, especially as a defensive back making one on one tackles. It is designed to plug up holes, make people bounce to you, especially at the defensive back, especially at those dog safety positions. You have to be great tacklers, not good tacklers, great tacklers. And you're asking that of a unit that, quite frankly struggled with that last year. And there's still some young guys that, quite frankly, in the coaching, with the coaching background I have, they're still tackling as if they, they feel, and even some linebackers that they can just lean into somebody and they're going to fall down. Yes. You got to follow the Ronnie Lott rules and hit three people past your target to get somebody down. You got to treat everyone like that. Beginning in the weight room with every rep you take, with every practice hit that you have, every tackle you have to hit, rap and rap with intent and bring them down. Period. Drop the mic and the story. They weren't ready to do that. We'll see how ready they are to do that this game.
Speaker A [9:17 - 9:18]: Bobby, to you.
Speaker B [9:20 - 10:16]: I firmly agree with what Pete's saying. I mean, like Pete said, the 335. I know Husky fans were hesitant about this defense coming in because of the history with it. And maybe an opponent like Maryland isn't the best team to play coming out against in that new system, but it's what we had, and it comes down to exactly what Pete's saying. You have to tackle in the correct fashion. Pete's a perfect example of this as a former player. Just every, everything that he did as a player, he fits the bill of this. So Pete is the perfect person to explain this and tell us, like, hey, you got to go get them. Like that. Ronnie mindset that Pete was just saying. So I don't really think there's much I can add to that other than the fact that they just have to go do it now.
Speaker A [10:17 - 13:22]: Well, we're going to talk about what this next week will bring coming up in a minute. But you're right, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to make Pete mad. He got me a little, kind of scared me there a little bit with that last segment, trying to. I feel like you can come through the screen and take me down. So before, before Pete tackles me on this next segment, let's, let's talk about where do we go from here with our upcoming opponent Merrimack coming up and let's pay some bills after this. When you're hiring for a small business, you need to find the right professionals who can make an impact. That's why I always recommend LinkedIn jobs. It's not just the job board. LinkedIn jobs helps you connect professionals you won't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively job hunting but are open to the right role. In fact, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not on LinkedIn, you might be missing out. And the best part, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within just 24 hours. So hire like a professional with LinkedIn. Post your job for free@LinkedIn.com. locked on college terms and conditions apply. Home field attention, Yukon fans. I'm rocking this vintage college gear. If you got to check out home field apparel, you can get that as well. They've got the best throwback Yukon designs, from classic logos to one of a kind pieces you can't find anywhere else. Whether you're gearing up for the game day or just want to go rep your huskies in style, grocery shopping, whatever it is, home fields got you covered. I just got my home field sweatshirt here from the platinum football box. And let me tell you, it's hands down the comfiest piece in my closet right now. I wear it almost on every show. And here's the best part. You can get 15% off your first order with the promo code Yukon 24. So head over to home fieldapparel.com. grab your Yukon gear and show your husky pride the right way. That's home fieldapparel.com dot promo code Yukon 24 for 15% off your first order. All right, we're back unlocked on Yukon. After paying a couple bills there, hopefully you get your home field apparel. Remember, use the promo code Yukon 24 for 15% off. Get some cool sweatshirts. They have some really cool long sleeves that I love, too. All right, guys, where do we go from here? You know, you can't, can't sit here and bitch and moan and dwell on this forever. But what we can do is, is ask questions about scheme, ask questions about are they going to do anything different on this offense? Like, if we look at the Husky Pro football Focus grades from this team, like, let's just take the head of the snake, right? The, the quarterback. First off, Nick Evers is questionable, right? He's a game time decision. The last I know, if you guys hear anything different, you tell me. Otherwise, so are they are. First off, first question that is, are we going with Fiona against Miramac or you think Nick Evers is going to wait until right up until game time? What do you think?
Speaker B [13:25 - 13:40]: I personally think it's going to go right up to game time based on that decision. I know coach Moore has said nick's the guy and they're leaning into that. So that's, that's what I'm going with until we hear otherwise.
Speaker A [13:40 - 13:48]: What about you, Pete? You think that's the right decision? Or do you think they go Fayona? Or are they going to kind of figure out, kind of let it play out through the week?
Speaker C [13:49 - 14:15]: I think if Nick is available, they're going to play him, plain and simple. They brought him in here to play. They brought him in here to make plays. He needs reps in the offense, and so if he's healthy enough to play, he'll play. Ok. Joe, he operated the offense very well when he was in there, especially the first couple of drives. So they know they have a guy that can operationally get it done, but they're probably going to go with Nick to begin with if he's available.
Speaker A [14:16 - 15:05]: All right. So I don't pretend to be a football expert, especially not one that is going to design plays and offenses, but I have to say, watching, and I said this on my show on Wednesday, I'm a, I'm a Giants fan. Watching the Yukon football offense on Saturday reminded me of the Giants football under Joe Judge and Jason Garrett and unimaginative. No easy throws for the quarterback. Even when the quarterback has time, there's, there's no outlets for, for, you know, quick passes to kind of like we talked about. We needed sustained drives. We needed to keep the ball away from Maryland. What, what are we going to see from this offense if Nick does play? Are they going to unleash him on Merrimack or are we going to see the same kind of conservative play calling?
Speaker C [15:07 - 16:49]: That depends on the OC. Your OC, your offense is only going to be as good as the mind calling it. I think it's very clear to me. We have pieces. Sure you have very good pieces, particularly wide receiver core. And I'll dare say to the point where we may have to really consider instead of making the running backs in the offensive line the linchpin, to start putting the ball in the playmakers that we have out there and see what they can do because Skyler Bell, Mister Boogie down from the Bronx, did his thing. Use that alpha we talked about last week that stood out. And no matter what they try to do, he made plays. Get him the ball. TJ Sheffield, when he got open, scored. Get him the ball. Ezra Anderson, hold on to the football. I can see you can get open. Get him the ball. So I think that will open up the running backs and the offensive line a little bit more to create bigger holes because everyone knows we're not passing the ball unless we have to. And I think that's right detriment to the weapons that we have. We have to get more open. I wouldn't say creative, but more open and getting the rock out to those guys, not just by chucking it outside and letting them run, but we got to be more creative with, with sets, formations, numbers to one side, motion into the other, motion the backs to one side of the other to get the defense to hesitate just enough to open up bubbles in that defense, to exploit it coverage wise in the passing game and with the offense, with the defensive line and front seven alignments in the run game.
Speaker A [16:50 - 18:05]: Yeah, and I'm going to kick it to Bobby here. But my, my. That's a great answer, but my, my meaning by, like, open it up is I'm not talking about flea flickers and crap like that because we saw that and that wasn't working. Like, I don't want them to. I'm not talking about reverses. I'm talking about, like, simple RPO options where the quarterback can make these decisions. I saw a great play with Oklahoma against Temple, and Temple is a common opponent where they. They slipped out at tight end almost like last minute. That was like a seam over the middle, but they had a receiver out wide, split out wide. And they also had a receiver kind of taking the safety away and doing across towards the goal line. But that safety was able to. Safety, I mean, that. That tight end was able to slip for. For a touchdown. And these are the type of plays that you brought Nick Evers in to do, is to create these RPO options where he can take it and run. If they. If they hold back on it or if they come up on him, he tosses it over for the tight end. Are we going to see some innovative things on top of this? I agree with you. We have guys in TJ Sherfield and Skyler Bell have 20 touchdowns between them in the Big Ten there. There needs to be the ball in their hands more often, but are we going to see them open it up and if not, are we seriously going to start questioning who's calling the plays here and maybe more? Has to take the reins of that. Bobby, your thoughts?
Speaker B [18:07 - 19:19]: Well, first part I want to add? Skylar Bell was second nationally among transfer wide receivers in yardage from the game this past week at 151 yards off of six catches. So obviously we have something there. To answer your question, though, Mark, I will say it was game one in a new system. I would hope that we are going to have more wrinkles coming out this week and as we continue into the next couple of weeks of the season. As Pete said, I firmly believe that we need to lean on those wide receivers because we got some good ones. I mean, the two or three that we've mentioned can be some real game changers here. I do think that we need to run the ball, obviously more effectively than we did in the last game. But we, we have to find a way, like you're saying, mark, to, to utilize some of those wrinkles and some of those players that we have to get them in space and get them in the, into places where they can be successful.
Speaker A [19:19 - 21:12]: Yeah, I just, I just want to see Nick Everest have a couple of, like, he didn't have a guy catch a ball for him, I think, until the, almost like the second quarter. Like there, there shouldn't be this. They weren't playing the 85 bears guys. I mean, Maryland's defense is, is okay. It's not great. To not be able to kind of create simple matchup issues is an indictment on the play calling, not the decision making of the quarterback. Cause he didn't get a lot of help from his receivers, as you mentioned, as Ryan Anderson missed some, missed some easy catches, didn't really get a lot of help from his guys other than Skyler Bell, other than Sherfield. When he caught that, that cross route where that was a great play, where they got him open and that was Fiona delivering in the past. So it's just, it's just, it's just a frustrating thing when I know that there are offenses out there that aren't top level, you know, power five teams that are still putting up points, and yet we're here trying to, trying to, you know, what was Nick, if we look at his, his Prof. Pro football grades, he only threw. These are straight numbers. He was over one for 20 or over a 20 plus throw on the outside left. Between the numbers he didn't attempt to pass outside right was the compassion completion to Skyler Bell for 37 yards. Everything else was under ten yards. Everything. So they didn't, they didn't open him up at all. And the little, the little stuff, let's, let's get more of that so we can get those matchup issues with deficiencies there with, with scholar bell. So that's what I was really hoping to see. And I, and we saw none of it. Miramac, not a, not a big time offense or big time defense. They lost 21 to six against Air Force. Pete, what should, what should the game plan be for this team that we're facing? Let's just say Nick is, is good to go and you guys both think that if he's healthy, he's going to play. What should we expect going into this game on Saturday?
Speaker C [21:13 - 22:33]: Expect the gritty team to come attack them? And I would disagree with you with Merrimack on defense, because they are, on their level, a formidable team that returns quite a few players on defense. They led the entirety of college football and third down efficiency on defense. Defense offenses only converted about 22.8% of third downs against that defense last year. And so they also have an NFL prospect at the defensive line spot, Nicholas Lennon, who's a playmaker, I think he had double digit sacks last year. So they're going to become, they're going to come in hungry. There are a bunch of players that were overlooked by a lot of people. I probably think that they feel, especially defensively, they held their own against a mountain west power in the air force and they're going to come in here thinking, well, this is the 112th rated team in the country. We're definitely going to be able to handle that. We're going to go and come and win the game. So you want to win the game? Attack these suckers. Pound them, pound them in the mouth and let them know whose field and whose house they're in early, often repeatedly, and beat them until there's zero, zero in the fourth quarter. That's how you beat this team.
Speaker A [22:34 - 23:31]: And before I go to Bobby, like, listen, I get it, Pete. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm not taking anything away from them. But if you look at their record, they're five. They were five and six in the FCS. I'm sure that they're at their level. You know, they hold their own. I used to get like, you know, when I watched or covered mid major basketball, you know, there are certain teams that can compete with high majors. Merrimack should not be one of them. Let's just put it that way. Like you, you con, if you call, wants to be considered a serious program. Everything you just said is true. But they need to dominate this team from, from jump. We talked about this pre show. This can't be a 1713 game. It can't even be a 21 six game. Like what happened with air force. Like if they beat them 21 to six, cool. We scored three touchdowns. We held them to no touchdowns. But I fully expect and fully want this, this Yukon team to show out in trounce this team, physically overpower them. Is that, is that possible, Bobby, or am I just talking out of turn?
Speaker B [23:33 - 24:33]: It's absolutely possible. I mean, our offensive line should be able to control the line of scrimmage against them. We are bigger. Yes, they have a significant piece on the defensive line, but we should be able to handle that. They fumbled the ball four times against Air force, losing three of those. We have to take advantage of that. This is a team that has a balanced offense, about 114 yards rushing, I want to say against Air Force, 103 yards passing against Air Force. So I'm an air force is a stop defense, I'll add. But we need to be able to, to control that and put out the same type of output that the Air force did in that regard, help hold them to under 150 yards passing and under 125 yards rushing. We should be able to do that if we do the things that we know that we can do.
Speaker A [24:35 - 25:12]: So last question in this segment. Um, if this game is similar to last game, I don't think they're gonna get blown up, obviously. Right. But if the, if worst case scenario, um, they come into this game and they struggle early, but it's close, um, what, what do, what, what would be the, like, Pete, let's, let's say we go into halftime and it's like six nothing and yukon's up just by a couple field goals. What, what's your speech right then to this team? If you feel like the same, you're seeing the same mistakes happen and we're not correcting them.
Speaker C [25:13 - 25:15]: Is this a g rated show?
Speaker A [25:16 - 25:20]: Yes. So keep it, keep it, keep it, keep it. PG 13, brother.
Speaker C [25:23 - 26:49]: Well, you said earlier not to challenge anybody's manhood. Why'd you come here to play? Because you're not. If it's that close, and, you know, Bobby and I talk about this in the past in our shows, is, you know, UConn, in order for it to be a power, it's got to start by owning its own house, which is New England. This is one of the tenants in the house. They're trying to come in your house and take it. And I'll say to a Mandev, anybody on that team, there are people walking in your face saying they're going to take, take your house. What are you going to do about it? And you know, a bunch of these guys came up because, you know, to use a street term, because they got the paper. Well, there are a bunch of players on the other side think they should. They're deserving of that paper. What are you going to do about it in terms of, you know, taking care of your own accounts, taking care of your own standard? It's about, it is about that. It is about a certain level of pride that you have to have as a semi professional athlete to take care of the standards. You need to perform the way you need to because make no mistake, if you make it close, there won't be a lot of people questioning, given the paper that you have, and you'll start looking for replacements for you, that's for sure.
Speaker A [26:49 - 28:19]: Um, when we come back, Bobby, I'm going to come to you with the same question, and we're going to go pay some bills, and we're going to come right back and analyze what if the good, what if the bad, and what are the consequences of both coming up after this? UConn fans, if you're looking for last minute tickets to catch the Huskies in action, then you got to check game time app, even though you're probably not going to have a trouble getting tickets to this game. It's the fastest and easiest way to score tickets for sporting events, concerts, and more, even right up to the day of the game. Lowest price guaranteed. Incredible deals on last minute seats. You'll never miss out. Plus, with our special promo code, lockdown college, you can get $20 off your first purchase. So download the game time app, snag your tickets, and use the promo code locked on college to save $20 off. Trust me, game times got your back for all UConn game day needs. All right, guys, to bring you back in, let's get game time off. I wonder, and I'm not even making fun, like, what if, what if the price of a ticket, it's like $10? You get dollar 20 off your first purchase? Do you get dollar ten back from game time? Do they pay you? I haven't because I know some of these tickets, they're not very expensive to go. I'm not even just talking about Yukon. Sometimes I saw tickets to the Maryland game that were like seven, $8 to be like way up, right? So I'm curious if that was, if that's, if that's a possibility, I'm going to try to find out.
Speaker C [28:19 - 28:22]: They probably have a contractual clause saying, no, we're not going to do, no.
Speaker A [28:22 - 29:34]: You can't do that. No, I bet I'm going to need $13 back because this only costs seven. All right, guys, so, Bobby, we were just talking about after the, before the break, if Yukon is in this game with Merrimack and it's close at halftime, I asked Pete what, what his halftime speech would be. He scared us again. But I also agreed with him 100% because, let's be honest, right. Uh, you know, whether you, when you, whether you're talking to, uh, just a buddy of yours who, who understands this nil stuff or someone that's just frustrated with UConn, some of these guys got paid some pretty good money to come here, right? And I'm not. And we're, and this is, this is not like, hey, you know, I'm gonna give you $500, like, back in the day, slotted under your, you know, under, under your locker and, you know, a little dark money here and there. This is like hundreds of thousands of dollars in your account to come play for UConn football. At some point, you need ROI on your investment. Dan Hurley talks about all the time in basketball. He doesn't want guys who are just here for nil. Is that something that they're going to have to start to think about, that some of these guys, if this happens, where they're kind of looking like the same old team, that maybe some of these nil investments were not the right ones?
Speaker B [29:36 - 29:55]: Well, I think that comes down to, as a coach, you gotta know and really do your, your work and your due diligence on the guys that you're bringing in here. You need to be bringing in the right type of guys. And I'm not gonna question if we've done that this year.
Speaker A [29:55 - 30:08]: It's too early, definitely that. But remember, we're playing, we're playing a hypothetical game. If it's closer halftime, what do you do? Some of those thoughts creep into your head. You're a coach. Would you, would you feel that way?
Speaker B [30:10 - 31:14]: I mean, it would cross your mind, that's for sure. I mean, you definitely. I think it comes down to more. So you're questioning yourself as a coach, then? If I'm putting myself in my coaching perspective at that point, questioning myself as a coach, like, hey, what did I do wrong here? And really looking in the mirror, and I guess I'll say it. I mean, we, we definitely have some that need to do that. We got some guys that need to look in the mirror, obviously players, but at the same time, coaches as well. Look yourself in the mirror and say, what, what did. What am I doing to not only better myself, better this program and all, everyone involved. I think that's how I would look at it personally. But at the same time, like, if we're only up six to nothing a halftime, I'm slamming the table and saying, get your crap together.
Speaker A [31:15 - 33:07]: Ooh, take it easy, Bobby. Don't scare me. We already had enough of that with Pete. No. So I totally understand that. I think we're at a point right now where ten years ago, you probably, it would be almost disrespectful to question the, the college athlete, you know, because, you know, they're a student athlete. They got stuff. So much so at this point, guys like college football is semi professional football. It is. You are getting paid to play. You do have to balance the same stuff that probably Pete had to balance when he was there, when I was in school. But I'm sure Pete would have liked to have made $100,000 to go play, you know, cornerback for, for safety, for, for the husky. So you owe it to the players that came before you to kind of be accountable for your own actions and how you play. And so there's got to be some of that mutual accountability when it comes to the players and coaches. And I don't know what the next step is. If, if we're in a bad position in this game, especially with the offense, I feel uncomfortable with an offensive lineman calling plays because I feel like there's less imagination with that. That's just my per, that's my personal preference. Pete, I'm going to come to you with the positive side. If we are in a position where we feel like this is a dominant performance, they're up like 28 nothing at halftime, you know, or, or even if Miramax scores some points, but, you know, the offense is humming and we're, we're never in doubt and we feel good at halftime. The end of the score game is something, something similar to the, to the reverse. If we, you know, 50 to seven like we did, to, like Maryland did to us, we, we've put up a ton of points. We don't give up a lot, and we look pretty impressive against an FCF school. Do you think all is right in the world or you feel like it's just one step in, like we're just trying? I think I know your answer, but I'm curious to. Here's your thoughts.
Speaker C [33:08 - 33:11]: I'll say we're supposed to be.
Speaker A [33:11 - 33:12]: Yeah.
Speaker C [33:12 - 34:49]: With that particular game, I don't necessarily disagree with you in terms of your viewpoint with offensive lineman minded coaches and how they call the game, but they do see things a little differently than maybe a wide receiver or former quarterback or a running back. So they're more confident in a little nuance. They see, you know, in the bubbles that they're offensive line can, can make in terms of certain alignments long off his line, what kind of gaps they can create along the front. And I trust that, you know, Gordon can, can do that job. It's like you said, it's got to be complemented with some more wide open kind of calls. Like, you know, part of this offense is, still drives me crazy is the speed option and has not worked in the three years we've, we've run it. Yet you see other teams in order to get to the perimeter, which that play was originally designed for before all the defenses got, you know, got their speed on their, on their units and caught up to it. You know, a lot of the spread offenses adapt by doing run pass options with swing routes, you know, with motion, with fly motion and things like that. So why we don't do that, especially with the players that we have now on the perimeter, boggles my mind. If you want to get speed out in the perimeter, stop relying on the running backs and get your receivers out on, you know, quicker passes to do so. Now, granted, some of the calls that, that Gordon did make in the passing game, Nick has to execute better. He was a tad late in a couple of his plays.
Speaker A [34:49 - 34:49]: I agree.
Speaker C [34:50 - 35:01]: Passes, which is why, you know, some of those balls were deflected. He's got to be a little bit more crisp with his reason. Faster. So, you know, coaches are putting them in position to succeed. You know, players got to execute.
Speaker A [35:03 - 35:20]: Your thoughts, Bobby, if we're in a positive position come Saturday afternoon and we're dming back and forth and we're in a good spot here at the end of the game, we went big. How do you feel about this team?
Speaker B [35:22 - 36:25]: As a fan? I feel good, but putting myself in the coaching perspective, I agree with people right where you're, where you need to be. You took care of business against the team, that you're better than you did what you're supposed to do. Yes, you feel good about it, as you should. It's. It's hard to win football games, and you should, you should feel a certain type of way when you do get a victory at the same time. Now you got to go. You got to go get ready and play against Duke the following week, another power four opponent who's going to come out and punch you in the mouth. So you got to take the really positive things that happen from this game and carry it over to the next week against a Duke team who looked like they had some issues in their week one game. So that. Yes, yes, as fans, we feel much better. We do. If that's the case, and I know we're hoping that it is, but putting it from the coaching and player perspective, it's a stepping stone. Another piece to the puzzle before we.
Speaker A [36:25 - 37:18]: Get out of here. We didn't get into too many specifics today and I think that was by design. I really wanted husky fans to hear this show and understand the frustrations of folks like the three of us. I think we speak for most fans, maybe not all of them, but you know, it's one of those things where it is, I think sometimes you need to do a show like this and not go, hey, we're going to break down the X's and o's because there wasn't much X's and o's to break down in that Maryland game. Okay, so, but I do. But what I do want you guys to do is I'm going to go to p first. Give me one player you've already talked about, the defensive defensive lineman. That's NFL prospect. What's one player outside of Skyler Bell that you want to see have a kind of a breakout game for Yukon offense or defense? Just one.
Speaker C [37:22 - 38:19]: I would say probably Ezra Anderson. He had two opportunities to get in the flow of the game, dropped them both, but he clearly got open. One was on a crow route and the other one was he toasted two Maryland players deep, showed a lot more speed and I thought for a big guy like himself. And so I like to see him get more involved with the game defensively. A guy that kept popping that was a positive that I thought, you know, brought the energy I was talking about was Lee Milletta. Lee Millett brought the wood on some, some folks, you know, when he got to the ball carry and I thought he, he kind of did a pretty decent job. I like to see all eleven play like that, but you know, those two will probably stick in my mind and see what kind of games that they have this game.
Speaker A [38:20 - 38:23]: But you, Bobby, I'm going to focus.
Speaker B [38:23 - 38:57]: On a unit of the defense. The linebacker unit was very poor. I think I'm putting it nicely. The tackling was atrocious. We have to play better. We have to see better play coming from here. Tui Fumina Brown is a player who we've highlighted before and talked about as a leader of this defense who needs to step up and play to the level that he's capable of, and I firmly believe that he will. But we need to see it.
Speaker A [38:57 - 40:25]: This week I'm going to give a shout out to Bill Barton, the father of Jack Barton. He hit me up on LinkedIn and was just like, hey, saw your podcast. I want to just give you some, give you some love. So I'm rooting for Jack this week. He had a nice hurry on the quarterback. Last game kind of got in Billy Edwards face. So I hope Jack has a big game and if Bill ends up watching this, we're all rooting for your son and to have a monster game against Merrimack and all the boys. That's the thing, guys. When all this stuff comes down to it, I totally understand, you know, all of our frustrations, but the reality is like, some of these guys are just our kids and maybe whether they've gotten money or not, I really. And rooting for all of them to be successful as we all are. And my frustration is mostly towards the kind of the coaching staff and kind of seeing if they can put them in a better position. Totally understand the accountability aspect. I think it's more 50 50 now than it ever has with nil, but that's my soapbox. So I hope all these, hope these guys kind of show up today. And I, I need some predictions from you guys with Vermeer Mac before I close out the show. Bobby, you go first this time. What's, what's the score? We're going to, we're going to see if Pete has the same opium as he had with, with Maryland, but we're going to go to you first, Bobby.
Speaker B [40:28 - 40:54]: I'm going to say 28 to ten. We take care of business, win the football game. We might struggle to open, but I think we come out and take care of business the way that we should. We come away with a victory. We learn a lot, I will say, and we move on. It's another piece of the puzzle and we get ready for Duke the following week.
Speaker C [40:55 - 41:33]: Pete, first of all, I want to say to any player watching, we do have love for y'all. It's just a lot of tough love because we think you can do better. Number one, sure. Absolutely. Number two, I'm putting my emotions out and just going by, you know, data and probability until they prove otherwise, I would say the score would probably be 26 to 16. Yukon. The offense has got to show me more what they can do to be explosive and, you know, instill their dominance on an opponent, particularly this kind of opponent and to open things up and get the ball in the playmakers hands. That's what's going to dictate moving forward.
Speaker A [41:34 - 42:41]: Yeah, I'm with, I'm with Pete on this one. I think, you know, the, the idea of them coming in and, you know, going crazy and dropping 40 something points would be a fantastic surprise, spectacular surprise. But until I see some dynamic offensive plays, I'm going to go with a little even closer than p, I'm going to say 20 416, I think, or 20 417, I think I would go with. I think Merrimack is going to be able to move the ball on them a little bit because I don't think you fix the issues that they had in that game in one week. Maybe I hope I'm wrong, but we'll find out they're fixable. Oh, yeah. I do. I don't, like I said, I don't, I don't, I don't think, I don't, I don't disagree. But I also feel like, I mean, we didn't even get into this, but, and we can do kind of like chop this up a little bit right here before we, before we sign off. Outside of the tackling, just like discipline issues, these 15 yard penalties, these targeting calls, you know, I talked about it on Monday.
Speaker C [42:41 - 42:42]: Well, don't give me star on targeting.
Speaker A [42:43 - 43:21]: I know, I'm. Listen, I think targeting as a rule is so subjective and frustrating for true football fans that have played the sport, have watched it for years, but it's a part of the game now. It's, it just is. And there, there are some tough ones. The last call was a tougher one. But the reality is, is that, you know, you can't go into this game with play, playing undisciplined football and the tackling aspect come, comes into play. You can't, you just, you just can't lead with your helmet and you can't be forearming guys in the head. And it's just, it, it just is what it is, man.
Speaker C [43:21 - 43:48]: That's true. I actually talked to an officiating friend of mine and the answer is pretty simple. If you, if you maintain or look like you're maintaining proper form, you're not going to get called. So there's got to be a mechanical discipline. Practice with each player to make sure you're in some kind of form, particularly if you're in with the, you know, dealing with the quarterback. Now, my opinion is they got to redefine what giving themselves up means because.
Speaker A [43:48 - 43:51]: I agree with that also, 100% some.
Speaker C [43:51 - 44:19]: Of these players engage sliding way too late. If people did not have helmets and they're trying to protect themselves, there's no way they would engage a slide that late to protect themselves. So if you're going to take that criteria and judge a defensive player and their ability to control themselves with helmets on full contact, you have to give the same onus to the player initiating a gift up context in that play. My opinion.
Speaker A [44:19 - 45:33]: Don't, I don't, don't disagree with that at all. Yeah. Again, I just, it just, it just is the overall theme of this podcast of the Yukon football as a whole right now is undisciplined, lack of tackling, inability to get open, and then when they do get open, not catching the ball. So all of that comes down to mental. It's a mentality that needs to happen and that needs to, that, that needs to change. Yeah, I think we all are in agreement there. Um, of course. Thank you for listening to locked on. As your first listen of the day, locked on UConn. But for your second listen, go check out locked on college football podcast. From nil deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron. You can find the link to lockdown college football in the description, so there is no need to search part of locked on college podcast network. Lockdown college football is there for your team every day. This has been another episode of locked on UConn Football Friday edition. For my hosts, Bobby Wilson and Pete Callan. I am your host, Mark Zineto, asking you to stay locked in, stay connected, make sure your toughness meter is always rising. And as always, go huskies. Go be bleed blue. Get that win.